Vodka donkey has asked me to post this article on her blog. She and her French boyfriend, Tin Tin, are so appalled at the thought of their friends being served up in Edinburgh they couldn't eat their breakfast this morning. Vodka was in tears, and is worried that even though she escaped from France, she may no longer be safe in Scotland. We have assured her that there is no way she is ever going to end up as a saucisson.
Vodka would like to firmly point out that many of the horses ponies and donkeys who are going to be eaten are ex pets - not farmed animals. She herself was farmed, she thinks, but she isn't really as she was such a young donkey at the time and was so bewildered and lost she almost had a donkey breakdown. She is now fully recovered.
On the other hand, Tin Tin says he had a home once, and even has a full French Passport, registered with the Haras National - Tin Tin is there in full colour. He clearly has had a family who loved him in the past -and he doesn't know why he ended up on a French fattening farm going to the meat trade. We will never know. If only those sad brown eyes could tell you the whole story, all we can do is make him happy and tell him that he will never, ever, be in danger again.
He also would like to point out that he met several New Forest ponies there, and there was a cute little shetland pony girl, who had given her life to children as a pony club go faster pony - and yet, aged 15, she was sent for slaughter. She couldn't understand it either. He also spoke to a lot of ex racehorses who also wondered why they were there - they had run as fast as they could and done their best but clearly the nearest they were going to get to St Cloud was on a plate.....
This is what Vodka and Tin Tin are so upset about:
"A French restaurant in Edinburgh is the first in the country to offer diners "saucisson de cheval", or horse meat - and it is selling faster than a thoroughbred. Skip related content
Related photos / videos Enlarge photo L'escargot Bleu offers diners a range of delicacies more familiar to continental foodies such as pig trotters, tripe sausages and pig's head pate.
It started serving donkey meat three months ago and it proved so popular, the restaurant stepped up a gear and put horse meat on the menu.
It is served either as a cooked steak with peppercorn sauce or as a steak tartare - raw, with an egg yolk, mustard, gherkins, shallots, parsley and olive oil.
Restaurant owner Frederique Berkmiller, from Tours in France, told Sky News he was serving horse because the public was ready for it.
"Food has changed very quickly in the last 10 years," he said.
"We eat horse meat in France and so do a lot of British people when they're over there.
"It's very lean, very tender and anyone who likes red meat would love it."
The public clearly has an appetite for the dish.
When Sky News contacted the restaurant, they had sold out and were eagerly awaiting their next delivery from Paris.
There are some animal charities however that have a beef with the notion of eating horse meat.
Ross Minett, from Advocates for Animals, told Sky News he did not think the dish would be popular because culturally, Britons do not eat horses.
"Our close relationship with horses, as with other animals such as cats and dogs, has shown us how intelligent and sentient these creatures are," he said.
"They have thoughts and feelings. As a result we don't want to eat them.
"We see horses as our pets and companions rather than a potential meal."
But back at the restaurant, they beg to differ.
"A lot of people are misinformed. When people think of horse meat, they think of the pony in the garden," Mr Berkmiller said.
"The fact is that in France and in the UK, there are horses bred for meat. I don't see the difference between a horse and a cow."
Friday 26 March 2010
Friday 5 March 2010
Tin Tin, Last One Out
The shocking news reached Vodka and Tin Tin today, their old home, the meat farm, has closed and all the horses ponies donkeys foals, young and old, have been 'liquidated' 'culled'. Gone. Dead.
Tin Tin was on the last transport out in February 2010 - he and two donkey jennies and their babies, and two other boy donkeys, were the final survivors - the rest are gone. Perfectly nice horses who could have had a life are dead, many of them just 15-18 months old, having never been trained or given a chance.
Tin Tin is in a state of shock - the news that he so narrowly missed selection for the death march crushed even his exuberant nature. He was lucky to have been issued with a set of wirecutters and a map to the channel ports, and this brave donkey with his companions charted a course to safety. Tin Tin's sad brown eyes are fringed with tears as he takes stock of just how slimly he missed going to his death with the others - a mere quirk of fate and he has a happy future ahead of him, with his new girlfriend Vodka donkey.
We are all in mourning for the poor lost souls
Charlou, andalucian stallion
Foniale and her foal
Lav Un and her foal
Konkora and her foal
Espoir Un and her foal - so badly misnamed, no Hope for this little lady
The foals from 2008 - all ages 15-18 months, all gone - we watched their pictures as they grew up into stunning young horses, for what purpose.
Hopefully their suffering is now over and they can gallop free forever.
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